Prince Harry is tipped to reject an offer from the Royal Family as a form of “protest” when he returns to the UK next month, a royal commentator has claimed.

The Duke of Sussex is expected to make a solo visit back to his home country to appear before the High Court for his ongoing trial against News Group Newspapers (NGN), the publisher of the Sun newspaper.

Harry and former Labour deputy leader, Lord Tom Watson are suing NGN for alleged unlawful information-gathering and invasion of privacy. The publisher denies any wrongdoing.

The Duke is set to be cross-examined by the newspaper group’s barrister, with the trial set to last seven weeks.

Now royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams claimed Harry will likely refuse to stay at Buckingham Palace, an offer which he previously declined during his 2023 court appearance, and will most likely opt to stay at a hotel instead.

He told GB News: “We do know that Buckingham Palace was offered for the last visit and rejected in favour of a hotel.

“Now, that’s never been explained. I don’t understand. It’s obviously part of a protest.”

He added: “So far as security is concerned, we know he’s appealing the Home Office’s decision not to automatically grant him security.

“Who would have thought he’d prefer a hotel to Buckingham Palace?”

Mr Fitzwilliams noted that the duke remains committed to his “mission of cleaning up the British press.”

The duke has accused NGN of targeting him with a series of unlawful information-collecting practices, including phone hacking. NGN is contesting the claims.

The company has already paid hundreds of millions of pounds to the victims of phone hacking by the now-defunct News of the World and settled more than 1,300 lawsuits.

Speaking at a summit in New York City last year, Harry addressed the 1,300 people that have made the decision to settle their claims against the publisher.

He said: “They’ve settled because they’ve had to settle. So therefore, one of the main reasons for seeing this through is accountability, because I’m the last person that can actually achieve that.”

The company has previously rejected allegations of any wrongdoing by staff at The Sun, with a spokesperson saying: “The Sun does not accept liability or make any admissions to the allegations.”